UFO is the title of the second
Need New Body album, released September 16th, 2003 on
File 13 records.
This album contains all of the reasons why I love
N.N.B.: It's really catchy and fun to listen to, and at the same time it's also extremely jarring, frequently toeing the line of being
way too obnoxious. This album includes some older, live-only material that had not yet been recorded, such as the fantastic "
Pen" and the even more fantastic "
Beach". By the titles of those two songs, it is easy to tell that
Need New Body is nothing if not totally weird. Their music, on this album especially, isn't really fit to be categorized, although if hard pressed to do so I'd call them something like
spazz-
folk-
hillbilly-
klezmer-
jazz improvisation, all created with banjos,
eight-bit video game noises,
junkyard percussion a la
Tom Waits’s “
Bone Machine”, absurd free-ranting, and campfire sing-song-y
sing-a-long fun.
UFO, in this way, is a whole lot like
N.N.B.’s first album: It’s completely ridiculous. The spontaneity keeps you listening just to hear what they'll try next. And even when they flop, when they totally suck, you can't help but admire the sheer enthusiasm poured into even the most obviously
half-baked experiments.
The first track of the album is a great example of one of these
half-baked experiments As if to weed out the weak and unadventurous, "
Gigglebush Meets CompUSA" starts with an off-balance, none too special beat, then it jarringly disintegrates into what sounds like the
death cry of a robot sent from the near future, beeping and whirring without any kind of rhythm or form. Few bands that I’m aware of would be so brave (or perhaps foolish) as to try this sort of thing. The second track, "
Hotshot" continues with a
fist-pumping chant-along that shows off drummer
Chris Powell and his signature old school
R.E.M. meets
Kraftwerk 4/4 beat. "
Moondear", the third track, is maybe the most unlikely thing
Need New Body could do at this point- a (nearly) straight-faced
acoustic love ballad. But with the fourth track, "
Popfest", they settle back into what they do best, that unavoidably catchy and bouncy beat shows up again with industrial noise drilling and hammering away while the whole bands , again and again and again,
"Meets, hits it off, hangs out, makes friends, and is never seen again" One could go on and on. Each song offers something new and exciting. And even after the album is thoroughly digested,
UFO continues to satisfy through
Need New Body's untouchable rhythm section, its sense of humor, and its almost scary level of exuberance.
UFO, like its predecessor, and like a good
Frank Zappa album, is a must-be-heard-to-be-believed album.
Track Listing:
1.
Gigglebush Meets CompUSA - 1:16
2.
Hot Shot - 2:59
3.
Moondear - 1:39
4.
Popfest - 3:59
5.
Pisscat - 0:36
6.
Tittie Pop (In Japan) - 0:47
7.
Show Me Your Heart - 4:06
8.
Pow Pow - 1:27
9.
Red as a Bone - 4:27
10.
Turken Hogan - 1:03
11.
Make Gay Love Not War - 0:21
12.
Beach - 1:56
13.
Magic Finger - 0:42
14.
Ox - 2:49
15.
Manglor - 1:21
16.
I Know - 2:04
17.
Shark Attack - 2:52
18.
Need Newage - 1:59
19.
Dr. Spliffin's Food Drive - 1:19
20.
Coffeeshop Girl, Pt. 2 - 0:05
21.
Pen - 2:17
22.
Applesnake - 0:30
23.
Turn Pillars into Trees - 0:54
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